Kdportfolio1 by konnerdent

Writing Portfolio v.1 Konner Dent

Lake Union

Herald

FOCUS

MLK Chapel: From Injustice to Reconciliation Konner Dent “Februar 8, 2006. Was the day that forever changed my life.” “Febrary 8, 2006. Really just another day for me.” “All I wanted to go to the store to get some milk for my son.” “All I wanted on that day was another conviction.” This is how the chapel on Martin Luther King Jr. Day began, with the stories of Jameel McGee and Andrew Collins – a man sentenced to a decade in prison and the man who lied to make it happen. However, the message delivered wasn’t one of conviction, but of reconciliation, because now, Jameel and Andrew tour the country as both public speakers and friends. What had happened in 2006 was that when McGee went to the store, he caught a ride with individuals who had drugs in their vehicle. Upon arriving, Collins arrested him as the carrier, despite opposition and please of “not guilty.” After that, bitterness fueled McGee’s time in prison, as he began a 10-year prison sentence. “I read the first five verses of Genesis and I was overwhelmed with this sense strong feeling of, “let it go. Let it go. And this was before Frozen came out!” After wrestling with God over the situation, McGee concluded that while he didn’t have a choice in his arrest, he could decide how to respond to his situation. Gradually, McGee began breaking out of his shell of anger apathy. Meanwhile, power and arrogance were catching up with Collins, and two years later, he came under scrutiny for drug involvement. The facts were not altered, and with the prospect of jail looming overhead, Collins confessed all the arrests he had falsified, including Jameel McGee. “The longer I was a police officer the more wrong things I did, and the more wrong things I did the less I felt bad about them. February of 2008, I get caught with crack, heroine, and marijuana in my office, and in one day my life crumbled.” However, in the midst of the repercussions of his decisions Collins also experienced a spiritual revelation, confessing to the cases he had falsified, including the conviction of Jameel McGee. McGee left having served four years and Collins went in for one. However, their stories start to become more mingled. The two accidentally met at park once and then in 2015, ended up both working at the same restaurant in Benton Harbor. In one year, the two had become friends and after their story was featured on the NBC’s “On The Road with Steve Hartman”. The innocent convict and corrupt cop had not only become friends, but also public speakers. “I’m white, and he’s black. We get this.” Collins reflected. “We get that this could speak to our nation right now, and we don’t have all the answers, but we have a piece of it, and the piece we are holding onto right now is reconciliation.” This is also where their story intersects with Andrews. “Dean Yagley from Student Life sent me the link from student life, so I went on CBS’s website and watched their story. I actually contacted Mosaic Café, and when I called, person who answered the call was Andrew!” stated Campus Chaplin José Bourget, who worked towards bringing the two gentlemen fro the Martin Luther King chapel service. “I drove over there and met with both guys and thought, “you know, this would be really good for us to have at chapel.” At that time, we had no idea what we were going to be facing this year, and we had none of that context, but it just seemed right for them to come to Andrews and tell their story.”

Conciliar Post

The Seventh-Day Adventist belief on the soul’s actions after death is characterized by its lack of action. The verse primarily referenced is Genesis 2:7, which states, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” According to this verse, a soul is formed when dust is given God’s breath of life. God doesn’t give man a soul, but rather makes him one. Elihu seconds this motion by stating in Job 33:4 “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” Conversely, when an individual dies – when the breath of life leaves them – they cease to remain a soul and return to dust. To cite Seventh-Day Adventists Believe (the official compilation of beliefs accepted by its members): “Though the body returns to dust, the spirit returns to God. Solomon said that at death ‘the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it’ (Eccl. 12:7). This is true of all, both the righteous and the wicked.” Many have thought that this text gives evidence that the essence of the person continues to live after death. But in the Bible neither the Hebrew nor the Greek term for spirit (ruach and pneuma, respectively) refers to an intelligent entity capable of a conscious existence apart from the body. Rather, these terms refer to the “breath”—the spark of life essential to individual existence, the life principle that animates animals and human beings. Not surprisingly, the subject of the soul’s post mortem actions is largely tied with topics such as the state of the dead, and the processes of immortality. Seventh-Day Adventists equate death with an unconscious sleep, which Christ referenced when referring to the state of Jarius’s daughter and Lazarus. The “Awakening” from this sleep at Christ’s return is best summarized by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:51-54. “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”